Birdman (2014), R, ★★★★

Michael Keaton and Edward Norton role-playing?

Michael Keaton is an actor who has been in projects that range from memorable to forgettable. He played Batman in both versions from Tim Burton in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I have seen him in the terrible film Pacific Heights where he plays an angry tenant and an utterly forgettable film and it's another Herbie version called Herbie: Fully Loaded with Lindsay Lohan. It has cool and cartoonish racing sequences and well, that's it. But, he had a funny performance in The Other Guys as the captain. But, this film is a career resurgence for Keaton in this dark comedy.

This movie is designed as though the entire result is in one continuous shot. Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) is an actor who is transitioning his career from starring in his Birdman voicing roles as a superhero to being a theatre actor. The voice of Birdman, subconsciously coming from his movie poster, is saying that he should never have quit making the movies and also hates the smell of the small dressing room. He says that "it smells like balls." Over the PA, Riggan is called for rehearsal.

On the way to rehearsal, Riggan's manager, play producer and best friend Jake (Zach Galifianakis) is concerned about the play itself that he is starring in and directing in. He says that one of the actors isn't very good and he goes to the stage where all the other theatre actors are waiting for him which consist of: Lesley, Ralph and Laura (Naomi Watts, Jeremy Shamos and Andrea Riseborough). What happens is a miracle where one of the lights from the lightning grid falls on Ralph, taking him out of the production.

They need to find a replacement for the play and Lesley suggests a famous theatre actor who is a method actor named Mike (Edward Norton). They are both role-playing with dialogue for a while and Mike agrees to do the play. Sam (Emma Stone), Riggan's drug-addicted daughter and assistant, takes Mike to costumes and tells him to get naked but Lesley comments her nasty opinions about Sam and she doesn't realize that Sam is behind a rack of clothes before she entered. Sam appears and is embarrassed and Lesley yells at mike. The whole entire production goes into chaos as improvised suggestions are in play and interfere with the production and the financial budget.

Sam (Emma Stone) having a conversation with Mike (Edward Norton).

This is a film for movie-lovers. It is a dazzling take of Hollywood tackling the subject of Broadway and how actors, producers and writers deal with the process of having a successful production. It almost plays like a documentary and a Broadway play within a film and it is refreshing to see some unlikable and uncharacteristic actors struggle with their inner demons with their past or just letting out some steam about Riggan as a human being. It is like witnessing a meltdown from every single actor. Emmanuel Lubezki should no doubt get an Oscar nomination for his superior camerawork snaking through every corridor, hallway, and room just like a behind-the-scenes process.

Michael Keaton gives the performance of a lifetime as a struggling actor who deals with the pain of past fame and fortune just to try a knack for theatre work. It is priceless to see him overcome fame with just stress, which is a tour-de-force example as a fan just says to him not to "be a d**k, just sign the autograph." I don't know how many times Keaton has gotten that response in his career when he played Batman, but it is an ironic hoot. Great performances all around: Galifianakis, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough and Edward Norton is possibly another award-caliber performance. It is a different kind of performance from his routine roles from Norton because it is almost identical to Norton himself. He is a method theatre actor but with charm and comic chops display on-screen.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inñarítu, the director of Babel and 21 Grams, has created his noble and probably most fun effort from his usual dramatic films of sadness, melancholic themes, and temptation. It is a masterstroke of storytelling from the eye of an actor and also a director who just loves the arts. The flavors of creativity and boldness just gel into such a witty dark comic film about the passion for Broadway that every minute counts as a minute of genius from such a gifted to director. Bow down, Inñaritu, the cast, the filmmakers and the writers, you deserve a round of applause.

****